


From Space, With Love

by zovinar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Back to Earth, Chaos, Dramedy, Ensemble Cast, Established Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Keith (Voltron), Humor, Jossed, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Meet the Family, Multi, Team as Family, Yelling, as of a while ago actually but we're gonna keep chugging along, four years later, the Whole Nine Yards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-26 19:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13864110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zovinar/pseuds/zovinar
Summary: So, Keith might not be entirely convinced that this whole thing is actually a trap but he’s still pretty fucking sure it won’t end well.Lance usually calls him a paranoid conspiracy theorist when he says things like this, but Keith enjoys the opportunity to rub Lance’s face in the entirehello blue lion on Earth, you’re welcome bitchthing. Also, Lance spends way too much time misjudging how well other people take weird ass shit. Just because you’re ok with it doesn’t mean everyone else is, Lance.OrDomestic chaos featuring: combat instincts crashing headlong into habitual civilian behavior, people (Keith) getting stuck in uncomfortable social situations, Shiro being a good brother but also a huge shithead, Hunk being anactualgood bro, way more magical and/or alien weaponry making it planetside than what was supposedly allowed, and Pidge finally—finally—figuring out how they can make a pitstop at Earth with absolutely zero chances of Zarkon crashing the party.





	From Space, With Love

**Author's Note:**

> updates will be sporadic as I fight off another terrible bout of berseria and bats so wish me luck guys.
> 
> comments are nice bc they remind me there's something else I could be doing with my time LOL.
> 
> I’m also 100% open to corrections in spanish-isms or english-isms or just crit in general so bring it on guys, discourse is awesome.
> 
> warning for so much dialogue, but I guess if you read anything else I’ve written it’s about the same? whatever there’s nothing wrong with dialog—basically: warning for author who talks too much. 
> 
> right, let’s get to work.

 

Keith knows there’s a problem when Lance answers the door with Fake Smile #4: the one he really wishes was real.

It drops off his face almost immediately to be replaced by a tense expression, lips pursed in a way that makes the near-invisible hairline scar that cuts diagonally through his mouth crinkle.

It’s nice to know that Lance is comfortable enough with him to drop his innermost defenses, though to be fair, the last time he’d tried to seriously fake Keith out with his expression, Keith had punched him in the stomach so hard he’d been on the floor for almost an hour. So basically it’s nice to know that Lance isn’t as fucking stupid as he used to be.

“So…” Keith shoves his arms in his jacket pockets, “am I not meeting your family?”

Lance ignores the voices that call out to him from inside as he carefully steps out of the house and pulls the door shut behind him, wearily leaning back into it with a sigh.

“You didn’t actually think you’d skate by with just showing up after four years, did you?”

“Shut up McFuzzykins.”

Keith raises a brow.

Lance lets his head thunk against the door as he groans, but before he can work himself up to actually saying anything, a voice hisses out something from inside. It’s sharp, female, and _pissed._ They bang once on the door and Lance puts his face in his hands.

“God what did you do.”

Lance peeks out from behind his fingers. “Okay so…random question.” That’s never good. “You have your Marmora blade with you, right?”

What the fuck. “What the f—of course I have my blade; when do I ever not have my blade.”

“Right, obviously; I mean, aside from Allura being like, ‘no magic space weapons pls,’ you friggin sleep with that thing on.”

“Yeah, _I noticed._ And so did you,” he jabs a finger into Lance’s chest, “nearly cut off all your fingers that one time.”

“I wish you wouldn’t keep that thing under your pillow when we share.”

“That’s why I stopped doing it!”

“Why is my boyfriend covered in knives?”

_“Lance—”_

_“What the fuck Lance!”_

The door gets jerked open and Keith almost lets Lance fall on his ass, but that means he’d also fall on the girl and, well… He’s feeling pretty generous to her right now for giving Lance shit for him.

She does look pretty fucking pissed though, glaring full throttle at Lance even as he sorta dangles from where Keith has a hand fisted in his shirt.

“I’m really tempted to drop you.”

“Do it,” she hisses, “that idiot deserves it.” Her eyes are flinty and dig into Lance like knives.

Keith decides that he likes her. “Even the floor doesn’t deserve to get hit with that much dumbass.”

“I’m not gonna get any say in this am I.”

“Shut up, Lance.”

The girl chooses to just glare at him instead. “You could’ve just come home—you’re here now!” It sounds like the continuation of an argument he missed and Keith really doesn’t want to get involved but…

“We could’ve,” Keith interrupts, “but we never would’ve.”

“ _What,_ why not!?”

“Well,” Lance shifts, “no one likes party crashers.”

Her gaze whips back to Lance. “What does that even _mean?_ ”

“Uh, it’s complicated?” He shrugs and flicks a look at Keith.

“What? No this is your mess,” and Keith has absolutely no desire to get involved. “I’m not taking care of it.”

“Too late—you’re already involved and you’re gonna help me explain this shit.”

“You’re asking _me_ to talk to people for _you?_ ”

“Um, apparently.”

“Fuck off Lance, talking to people is literally part of your _job.”_

“And not yours? You’re a paladin too.”

Yes Lance, very good point, except, “ _yeah,_ and last time you literally told me that my job was to look pretty and intimidating and _not talk_.”

“You punched that dude!”

“You told me she deserved it!”

Lance throws up his arms in exasperation, “and totally told you very specifically not to punch her anyway!”

“Oh my god.” The girl, whoever she is, drops her head in a hand. “Are you fucking serious?”

“…Yes?” Keith squints at her a bit, “was that—?”

“Rhetorical,” Lance sighs. “And yeah, he’s _always_ serious.”

“Seriously gonna punch you in the mouth, _Lance._ ”

“Now, that,” she says dryly, “he totally deserves.”

“Probably should have expected this, yeah?” Lance says with a weak smile.

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

That startles a bark of laughter out of him instead. Keith can see his muscles relaxing, tension finally drained from his shoulders. The girl’s mouth twitches as she tries to keep a straight face at the joke and Lance finally has a _real_ smile on his face.

“God, you’re really back.” She laughs now, joy breaking over her face even her eyes glisten.

“Missed you, sis.” Lance slings an arm around her to pull her in for a kiss on the cheek, squeezing her shoulders. “Keith, this is Aly, my not so little sister.”

“Uh,” Keith offers her a wry smile, “hey.”

She scrubs at her eyes a little before extending a hand with her own rueful smile. “Keith, nice to—” then she freezes, eyes going wide as she searches his face. _“Mierda,_ you’re Keith Kogane, holy fuck.”

“Ugh, Aly.”

“Lance you brought home _Keith Kogane.”_

“But—”

Aly ignored him, whirling around to face Keith. “Did you know he used to write you hate letters? He had so many of them that he’d mail them to us while bitching about how awesome you were—he _cried_ when you got kicked out.”

“Alymere!”

Keith blandly ignores the small slap fight that breaks out. That’s actually…stupidly intriguing. And he’s not above bribing someone to get his hands on some of those letters. He could also extract so many favors from Pidge: gotta love blackmail material.

“Whatever.” Alymere breaks out of the scuffle and spins around to confront him with hands on her hips and an imperious look. “So do _you_ have something that can prove this idiot’s bullshit space story?”

Oh shit.

It _is_ a trap.

 

* * *

 

He actually does have something that can prove they were in space—or at the very least dealing with beyond weird shit. Unlike Lance, Keith has some artifacts and weapons on him that are way too fucking magic to be mistaken for advanced tech.

He’s also got a small crystal pendant that has a sliver of Shiro’s quintessence tucked inside and that they can pry off of his cold, dead body if they wanna look. It’s attuned to the paladin bond, so no one else is really gonna get any use out of it if they _do_ get their hands on it, but Keith'd decided drastic measures were needed to track him down if necessary after the _fifth fucking time_ Shiro’d up and _vanished_ on them—what the flying _fuck_ Takashi.

Mostly though, he has his knives, let’s be honest.

Still, the one that’s the most dramatic without being inherently destructive _is_ his Marmora blade, Lance wasn’t wrong about that. It’s not really magic though? The essence of the blade is activated by his quintessence, which resonates with the inlaid glyphs and the galra blood that’s added in the forging that triggers the luxite to… It’s just really fucking metaphysical shit that’s basically magic anyway, nevermind.

Either way, he still isn’t prepared for the reaction when he finally does pull his blade out.

They don’t even really make it into the house, everyone crowding around them in the entryway—and Keith does mean _crowds,_ jesus shit. There’s like, at least ten people here. Lance will pay for getting him into this.

So. Keith tugs his blade out of the sheath at the small of his back, hopes on his lion that Lance hasn’t fucked him over, and activates it.

“Holy crap, he wasn’t kidding, you’re actually covered in knives.” Aly looks somewhere between awed and horrified as she gapes at his glowing Marmora blade. “How many do you even have on you?”

“I—”

“Don’t,” cuts in Lance, looking pained, “just…don’t. Please.”

Keith takes this wonderful opportunity to not have to deal with the rest of the family; half of ‘em are starting to look kinda freaked out.

“Oh god, please tell me you didn’t bring Pidge’s bladed rubix cube of death.”

“It was a present—why would I leave it behind?” It is, without a doubt, the most versatile tool of destruction he owns and he loves the damn thing.

 _“Whyyyy.”_ Lance still looks like he’s in physical pain. “I hate that thing so much, it’s like you’re carrying a little bit of Pidge around wherever you go.”

“Which is awesome—”

“Which is _terrible._ ”

Lance just doesn’t like it when they do missions together, something about ‘senseless chaos and needless explosions everywhere.’ Keith loves his sister in arms so, so, much.

“Whatever, Lance. My sister is awesome.”

“I’m so upset you co-opted my arm joke.”

“Suffer, leg.”

 _“That’s a sword, Lance!”_ someone hisses, “not a _knife!”_

Augh, no, “it’s a blade: a Marmora blade—”

“Aand it’s getting put away now that my lovely assistant’s proven my point.” Lance practically slaps the thing out of Keith’s hand as he tries to shoo the huge glowing weapon out of sight. Bastard.

Keith glares as he sheathes it and (generously) doesn’t stab Lance. “Anything else?” he growls at Lance pointedly.

Lance shrugs, nonchalant as he spins on a heal to saunter out of the entryway. “Now you get out of the fucking doorway and pretend you aren’t the barbaric cur that you are.”

“Hey—!”

The fucker ignores him instead, shooing along the rest of his family into the kitchen. “Please, don’t mind Keith, his social skills are terminally nonexistent.” Lance flops down at the table, propping his chin in a palm so he can be smug at Keith proper-like, “he put allllll his experience points into being a cryptic badass instead.”

Keith huffs as he looms over Lance a bit, hands braced on the table. “Spent at least some of it on you.”

“Bitch you woulda had to spend more than _some_ on all this. Anyway,” Lance waves him off, “I wouldn’t say it’s as bad as being raised by wolves but that desert hobo thing did _not_ help you out.”

It’s like a habit so Keith can’t quite help leaning in and bumping his forehead against Lance’s to snarl lightly in his face. “Bite me.”

“Ew, no that’s your job.”

“Wow,” whistles one cousin or brother or whatever because _Lance still hasn’t fucking introduced anyone else to him yet._ “You two fight like a couple of old wrinkly grandparents.”

Lance bursts into laughter at that. “Who’s to say we’re not?”

“The part where I would have knifed you in your sleep before it got that far,” Keith grumbles under his breath, dropping down into the seat across from Lance.

“I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring your mistresses into bed while I’m still there.”

“Lance.”

“Don’t be rude, Keith. At least wait until I’m busy with something else.” Lance gestures at him in a way that’s super fucking rude on Tyx XVII, but steamrolls over Keith’s growl. “Anyway, quick run down,” he flicks his fingers to pull Keith’s attention to them.

“Mami and Papi,” Lance points at his parents and Keith gives a hesitant wave back, shifty from those unreadable looks.

“Littlest sister Talie—and by the way, you got really freaking tall, what the heck.” She half nods but doesn’t even really look at Keith, just gazes at Lance fondly.

“My big sis Kae and bigger sis Bedi,” the older who looks troubled while the younger looks like she’d cut Keith if he pushed her.

“My cousins Ector and Maris, the terrible twins,” both have the same contemplative look, though Ector’s blank curiosity feels a bit nicer than his sister’s unimpressed one.

“Over there is Grandpa Percival and Mamà Tristana.” Lance’s grandfather nods his head in greeting and his grandmother raises a brow. They both have the look of seasoned veterans at corralling chaos, like they’ve seen all the shit and can’t be bothered enough to freak out over just anything. It’s a little reassuring, Shiro gets that look sometimes, but it’s not entirely comforting—because Shiro is also a dick who laughs at you when you _do_ actually freak out about something. Still, thank god, at least there’re some adult figures here look like they’re not gonna let this thing spiral out of control.

“Bruno, Lucan, Boris, Garath…” Lance lists off the last four boys of various age, pointing at each without elaborating, “and of course,” he waves a hand at her, “Aly.”

Alymere scoffs. “Okay, _your turn._ You still haven’t explained whatever that was outside, _Lance—”_

“S-shhshhh!” squeaks Lance, looking indignant _._

“Outside?” Kae asks coldly, folding her hand on the table.

“The _weird flirting_ from outside.”

 _“Flirting!?”_ Boris booms in outrage.

“Uh,” Lance smiles, looking chagrined, “we're kinda dating—”

“We’re space married.”

Everyone turns, staring at Keith in shock; except Lance, who narrows his eyes. Keith just crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. Fuck you too, Lance.

“No, we’re no—”

“Yes, we are.”

“Um, _no_. That thing on Mmyvrin Fa was some kind of warrior soul bond thing.”

“Ventras Iroa.”

Lance blinks at him. “…Oh damn,” he mutters thoughtfully. “Jeez. Didn't think about Ventras Iroa.”

“How the hell did you forget? I nearly got thrown in an active volcano!”

“Yeah, that entire virgin sacrifice shit was kinda weird. Still,” Lance shrugs, “the only thing I actually remember from that is waking up in the diplomatic quarters with an epic magic-hangover and some kind of ceremonial bondage rope that was tying our arms together.”

“Uh, _yeah_. Because they thought you were a reincarnation of one of their gods and I was your _mortal consort_.” It had been terrible. There may or may not have been a Princess Leia bikini-like thing involved _and Pidge may or may not still have those hypothetical fucking pictures._ Schrodinger's _motherfucking_ pictures. Terrible. Keith might not have a functioning sense of shame but he has a sense of _reputation_. And chafing.

Lance just laughs. “So weird.”

Keith hisses at him, leaning across the table. He’d fucked Lance through the mattress that night for a goddamned _reason._

Lance just rolls his eyes and pushes him back with a hand over his mouth. “Calm down fluffy, don’t get your dander up.”

Okay. Well then.

Keith bites him. Like, actually bites him.

“Ewwwww,” Lance whines exaggeratedly, pulling back. “Can’t you just lick people like a normal person?” he complains as he smears the trickle of blood and saliva from his palm over Keith’s face.

Then Kae punches Lance in the shoulder.

“Yes,” someone else cuts in dryly, “keep the sexual tension to a dull roar please.”

“Ugh _fine,_ ” mutters Lance and uses a hand on Keith’s forehead to shove him down into his chair. Keith sticks his tongue out at him.

Most of the rest of the family looks confused or affronted, but Alymere just groans and slumps back over the table. “You guys are _so weird_.”

Keith just shrugs helplessly, using the napkin Lance passes him to wipe off his face. “Blame space, I guess.”

 

* * *

 

Dinner actually doesn’t end up being some kind of a disaster, thank god—it’s cleanup where things start to fall apart.

Keith really wishes he could’ve helped clear the table with the rest of Lance’s sibling and cousins because, just standing here? Getting stared at? Awful.

But he can’t just leave, he doesn’t have anywhere to go and Lance’s mom is just kinda glaring at him like she’s gonna bite his head off (and Keith’d _know_ because Plav’araks have really weird diplomatic conventions) and—

“Keith Kogane.”

_Shit._

Keith braces himself, wincing a little. Does he wanna make nice with Lance’s family? Yes. Does he wanna deal with potential emotional meltdowns? Um, _no_ , that sounds terrible.

“Lance?” It isn’t quite a scowl, but Mami McClain’s face is tight in a telling way and wow, uh, shit.

“Aly, can you take Keith up to my room?” Lance steps out in front of Keith as he catches Alymere’s arm, visually blocking his parents out of the conversation. Effectively, he’s booting Keith from the entire debate he _knows_ is about to go down—and it’s one of the things that makes them a good team: Lance’s always looking out for him. But…

As much as he really, really doesn’t wanna be here for this, Keith still makes a face at the notion of leaving Lance without backup—or a leash. The shit he can get up to at diplomatic functions is _nuts_.

“Ohmygosh you look like a wet cat.” But when Keith growls at him, Lance pulls Keith’s head down to thump on his shoulder. “Ugh no, no, no. You were running around for the last 36 vargas doing the heavy lifting while Pidge and Hunk set up the diffuser relay and _then_ you went to take Shiro home and then all of this.” Lance cards his fingers through his hair. “Just go sleep, idiot. I’ve got it.”

Okay _fine,_ but Keith’s at least gotta try. “Sleep is for the weak.”

“Tell me that in the morning fuzzy and I might believe it.”

Keith muffles a groan into his shirt and Lance laughs into his hair.

“This is mine to suss out. Besides, you suck at this sort of thing.” Okay that’s not entirely— “ _Last_ time,” he cuts Keith off before he can start, “last time you punched one of the dignitaries in the _mouth._ ” Looking put upon, he huffs without even seeing the grin Keith's got pressed into his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, it was pretty awesome.”

“If you need me—”

“I know.” Lance ruffles his hair and Keith sighs, resigned.

He still slips one of his smaller knives into Lance's sleeve before he steps away.

 

* * *

 

Aly is quiet as she leads him up, waving him into a room with a dusky blue door.

“Hey,” she catches his hand before he can push inside. She’s got the same manic energy in her that fills Lance, but right now her face is calm. Steady in a way that mirrors Lance’s when he helps Allura braid her hair or sits with Shiro after a bad night.

“Hey, I know the others aren’t really…” she shakes her head at his confused expression, dismissing the thought. “You’re good for him.” she clasps his hand with hers, “thank you, for taking care of my brother.”

“We’re a team. I mean, we all are, but we’re—”

“A good one.” Her laugh is small and soft as she interrupts Keith, hands leaving his warm as she slips away.

Alone the dusk of the room, Earth feels more like another diplomatic excursion than anything else. Even with Lance being a pushy dick, it’s a bit unsettling to try and sleep in a bed he’s never known without the humming presence of the other paladins around him.

The bed still smells a bit like him though. Damnit.

It helps.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> klance is basically what would happen if you turned mood whiplash into a ship with rivalry dynamics, gave it magical space weaponry, and put it in a blender. or at least, it is when you play it in certain dynamics.
> 
> virgin sacrifice keith is totally 100% a tribute to [genice’s fucking amazing piece seriously go look at it, her art is a gift](http://genicecream.tumblr.com/post/149164359754).
> 
> also if you’re imagining a lot of mcclain family drama going down that keith either isn't there for or is _steadily ignoring,_ you are correct: please do that. keith neither wants to acknowledge or take part in any feelings.


End file.
